Metrolinx, the provincial agency tasked with improving public transit in greater Toronto, held a board meeting at its headquarters on Bay Street Thursday. Unfortunately for transit users frustrated with overcrowded streetcars and buses, relief appears to be a number of years away.

REGIONAL EXPRESS RAIL

The preliminary concept for Regional Express Rail would see electrification to each of Go Transit’s seven corridors in the GTHA, making trips 10-25% quicker and improving the frequency to as little as 15 minutes apart.

The electrification process would take up to 10 years, and Metrolinx plans to present a more detailed service plan in September regarding the roll out.

“One of the pieces we’ll be looking at is what is the right kind of sequence,” said Metrolinx CEO Bruce McCuaig. “Is it corridor by corridor, is it putting together pieces of corridor depending on different kinds of service models?”

Peter J. Thompson/National Post

The Union-Pearson Express rail would most likely be the first to be fully electrified, he said.

The entire project, including electrification, updates to stations and tracks and replacing the current fleet, would cost between $11-12 billion, according to Mr. McCuaig. Metrolinx is waiting for environmental approval of the electrical infrastructure and a provincial budget that details how much money is available for the 10-year program.

“This is not something that has been done in the Toronto region in the past. It’s actually not been done in Canada to a great extent,” he said. “We are going to have to bring expertise from other jurisdictions to help us through this.”

Toronto mayoral candidate John Tory called the plan “a step forward” for his SmartTracks proposal, a 53-kilometre surface transit line he says would bring relief to busy subways in seven years.

“The bottom line is this: a surface subway on existing GO tracks is now firmly part of Metrolinx planning and is on the fast track,” said Mr. Tory in a news release.

“Many people, including myself, have advocated for it for some time. It’s going to happen no matter who is mayor,” she said in a statement.

Peter J. Thompson/National Post

YONGE RELIEF NETWORK STUDY

Metrolinx staff said data they have show that, in addition to electrifying the GO trains, Toronto also will eventually need a Yonge subway relief line as well. The timeframe for such a project, however, is still very much up in the air.

Mr. McCuaig said the electrification project would not be a barrier to developing a potential subway relief line.

“What we’re trying to do is develop a package. I don’t think that the outcome of the work that we’re doing is a binary decision between that project or this project,” he said. “Yes it’s going to include now the regionally express rail. We think at some point it is going to include a regional relief line.”

PRESTO

Metrolinx unveiled a new fare payment machine it plans to roll out to help passengers pay fares electronically. The TTC will install the machines on the new fleet of streetcars that will arrive on Toronto tracks beginning this fall. Travellers will have the choice to pay by tapping their Presto card, swiping a credit card, or inserting tokens or cash.

Metrolinx plans to also install the machines on some streetcar platforms and street corners, said Robert Hollis, the vice-president of Presto at Metrolinx.

The TTC plans to install standard Presto card readers at 26 subway stations, up from 14, and four streetcar lines in the fall. Metrolinx had earlier said it would integrate Presto across all TTC platforms by 2016. Thursday they moved that completion date to 2017.